Lucas Mann was only thirteen years old when his brother Joshmdashcharismatic and ambitious funny and sadistic violent and vulnerablemdashdied of a heroin overdose Although his brief life is ultimately unknowable Josh is both a presence and an absence in the authorrsquos life that will not remain unclaimed As Joshrsquos story is told in kaleidoscopic shards of memories assembled from interviews with his friends and family as well as from the raw material of his journals a revealing startling portrait unfolds At the same time Mann pulls back to examine his own complicated feelings and motives for recovering memories of his brotherrsquos life searching for a balance between the tension of inevitability and the what ifs that beg to be asked Through his investigation Mann also comes to redefine his own place in a family whose narrative is bisected by the tragic loss Unstinting in its honesty captivating in its form and profound in its conclusions Lord Fear more than confirms the promise of Mannrsquos earlier book Class A with it he is poised to enter the ranks of the best young writers of his generation.
